Carpe Datum

See, I Told You So

The bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad is prompting war retrospectives in the mainstream media. It seems as though this one event, rather than lots of sporadic deaths and small incidents over the past few months, has finally crystallized the whole war picture for some. And sadly, it is pretty clear that we liberals were right all along:

Every public argument for making war on Iraq has broken down. Let's start with the biggest:

* Weapons of mass destruction: None has been found. I'm sure that, at some point, evidence will mysteriously appear to show Iraq had a weapons program, but we already knew that, and to prove they had a program is a far cry from finding the tons of anthrax and chemical bombs, the armed missiles and mobile labs, the remote drones and nuclear components the Bush team scared us with almost daily in its drive to war.

Speaking of nukes, Bush's allegations were based almost solely on documents he apparently knew were forged. What could be more damning? Bottom line, if WMDs existed, they're now in the hands of terrorists or unfriendly governments or they're up for grabs in the Iraqi desert some place. Either way, it's a bad result.

* The link to al-Qaida: The myth that Iraq had significant ties to al-Qaida was based on a hospital visit to Iraq by one man and another meeting in a third country that likely never took place. No evidence has surfaced for an Iraqi-al-Qaida link. Ironically, Bush's misguided war now has forged just such a link. Osama bin Laden recently called on all Muslims to oppose our occupation of Iraq, and they appear to be responding.

* Iraq would welcome us as liberators: It happened only in a few places, and some of those appeared stage-managed. Now Iraqis are criticizing and demonstrating and shooting Americans. We've become occupiers. In the process we've killed, maimed, destroyed the Iraqi infrastructure and caused the loss of priceless cultural artifacts from the dawn of civilization. Some of our actions can be justified, but being justified and being wise are different things.

* We'd be out in 60 days, leaving behind a democracy that would take root, then blossom across the Middle East: Well, if majority rule flowers in Iraq, Shiites will run the place, as they do in Iran. That's who the majority is.

The truth is harsh. This administration is the absolute, unparalleled worst administration in American history. America's debt is skyrocketing. The government is exacerbating income inequality rather than at the very least remaining neutral or (god forbid) helping to promote social stability by fighting the trend. A spirit of meanness has taken over both the government and the media (i.e. "liberal" is a bad word, the recent Post editorial mocking Gore - remember "Sore Loserman"? - or the one mocking the deaths of the French - remember "Axis of Weasels"? - in the heat wave, the vast right-wing rainbow of talk radio, etc). Our moral standing in the world is shot completely to hell.

I honestly don't think the government, even during the post-Civil War era of Reconstruction, was ever this maliciously inept. The worst part is that so many Moron-Americans just don't give a crap, and they'll vote for Bush again if he tells a good joke during a debate. That's what is truly depressing: as a whole, we sort of deserve this kind of government, even though to be fair and balanced, the majority didn't vote for Bush.